The Great Train Robbery!
by Captain-Overkill
Summary: Post-series, usual spoiler warnings apply. Loki takes a high-profile job from a very unusual client.
1. Prologue

The Great Train Robbery

A Matantei Loki Ragnarok Fanfic

Author's Notes: This takes place after the events of my first fanfic, After, and prior to any events in the manga. Thanks to Evaron and GreyWolf for prereading.

Prologue

"Mayura-san? Mayura-san? Wake up, you're going to be late for school!" a voice whispered urgently, shaking her from a blissful slumber.

"Aww, five more minutes dad zzzzzz…"

"Mayura-san!" he said, louder and more insistently this time.

"All right, all right, I… accck!"

The last was said because Mayura had managed to roll right off the couch and onto the floor, banging her head against the coffee table as she fell, scattering piles of magazines and her blankets everywhere.

"Owww!" she moaned.

"Punyaan?" Ecchan squeaked as it hovered around her anxiously.

Yamino brushed the little familiar out of the way as he scooped Mayura up in his arms, and gently lifted her back onto the couch. He carefully brushed aside her hair and winced as he saw the large, discolored lump that was forming on her forehead. Mayura let out a soft, miserable sound. A tear trickled down her face as the pain began to register.

"That really hurt," she whimpered.

Yamino winced. "That doesn't look good at all."

"What's all the racket, Yamino-kun?" inquired a sleepy voice from the doorway.

"Mayura-san hit her head on the coffee table, Loki-sama," he answered.

Loki, still clad in his pajamas, padded over to where the dazed Mayura lay. He frowned, looking at the nasty lump on her head. She looked at him blearily, her eyes trying to focus. 

"Sorry, Loki-kun," she murmured.

He sighed. "Mayura, you shouldn't have spent the night here."

"I was just studying and, well… your couch is very cozy. I fell asleep!" she protested, then winced as another bolt of pain shot through her aching head.

"We can talk about it later. Yamino-kun, give Mayura's school a call and tell them she won't be in today because of illness."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Loki-kun, I can still get to school. You don't have to do that!"

He shook his head. "Not like that you won't. You might even have a concussion and as it is you'll never have enough time to get yourself cleaned up. But don't expect me to bail you out every time like this."

His attempts to be stern were spoiled when Mayura squealed in delight, sat up, and hugged a surprised Loki tightly. She started to babble out a thank you but then moaned and fell back, closing her eyes briefly. Loki began to grow genuinely concerned.

"I'll get you an ice pack right away," he promised, gently reaching down and stroking her forehead. "You just rest here. You can wash up when you're feeling a little better."

"Okay…" she moaned.

Mayura closed her eyes and settled her head back on the pillow, trying to get comfortable. Loki looked up to find Yamino smiling benevolently down at them from the doorway.

"Yamino-kun, I thought I asked you to go call her school?" he said, gazing pointedly at the butler.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I'll do it right away, Loki-sama."

Ecchan hopped on Loki's head and let out a soft "Punyaan" as they left the room.

***

A little later, Mayura felt well enough to join them downstairs for a quick brunch that Yamino had prepared. Part of the reason for this was because Yamino had slipped a bit of magical medicine in with the aspirin he had scrounged up for the girl. He was certain his special medicine had worked when Mayura began wolfing down the pancakes he had set out for her. Satisfied that Mayura would be well, Yamino turned his attention to Loki.

"More tea, Loki-sama?"

"That would be fine, Ya…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Everyone turned to stare at Mayura. Before anyone could ask her what the problem was, she leaped onto the table and began waving the newspaper at them excitedly.

"It's a new mystery!" she said happily. "A mysterious thief stole the fortune of a wealthy American heiress and brought all the gold to Japan! They say the total amount stolen is worth… worth… wow."

Yamino gently took the paper from her and examined it himself. "Oh my," he said. "What on earth does someone need this much money for?"

"Hey! What does it say?" Fenrir barked. "I wanna know too!"

"Ahem," Yamino said as he adjusted his glasses. "_Wealthy American heiress Irene Dunn will be arriving in Tokyo today to oversee the police investigation into the theft of her family fortune, worth almost five trillion yen in gold. The thieves have so far eluded capture in both the United States and Japan and police remain baffled…_"

"Isn't this cool, Loki-kun?" Mayura said with great cheer. "This is the biggest mystery since Phantom Thief Freyr!"

Loki was pensive. "Irene Dunn… Irene Dunn… there's something familiar about that name…"

"Are we going to investigate?" asked Mayura, was practically bouncing up and down in place. "If we can find the money before the police do, the Enjaku Detective Agency will be world famous!"

Loki looked very tired as he said, "Mayura, we don't even have the faintest idea of where to look. We have no leads, no clues, and every policeman in Tokyo is probably looking for the thieves too. We can't just go running around on the streets hoping to bump into something."

"You're no fun," Mayura grumped as she sat back down in her seat and began to eat again, albeit more slowly this time.

The uncomfortable silence of the next few minutes was broken when someone rapped loudly on the front door.

"I'll get it!" said Yamino, as he stood up and hurried to the door.

Loki sighed and rested his head in his arms as he listened to Yamino unlocking the door and greeting whomever his new visitor was. He felt a bit guilty for rejecting Mayura's plan in such an offhand manner, but he sometimes wondered if Mayura would ever learn to ground herself just a bit more in reality. The girl spent so much time with her head in the clouds, dreaming of aliens and UFOs and chupacabras, that she continued to miss the mysteries that existed right in front of her. Mayura's ability to attract strange and bizarre occurrences, often without even noticing them, was a subject of endless fascination to Loki. He promised himself again that he'd look into how she managed to do it. His train of thought was interrupted as Yamino returned to the dining room, guests in tow.

"Inspector Niyama, good to see you," Loki said quietly, looking up at the unshaven man. "What brings you here today?"

In contrast to Loki's neat and tidy appearance, the policeman seemed more disheveled than ever. His black suit coat was rumpled and wrinkled and his hair was a terrible mess. There were dark circles under eyes. He smelled of cheap cologne, cigarettes, alcohol, and one too many late nights at the office. Wrinkling his nose, Loki wondered when the man had last bathed himself properly.

"Hey, kid," the inspector said uncomfortably. "Sorry to bother you like this, but Ms. Dunn here insisted we hire you to help us with this case."

A woman stepped from behind Inspector Niyama and reached down to shake hands with Loki. Loki stared at her, amazed. She had long silver hair, pale skin, and behind a pair of glasses she had sharp blue eyes that seemed to miss nothing as she took in her surroundings. She wore men's clothing – a dark gray suit and tie, and a pair of white gloves. She was slim and unusually tall, and moved with an easy grace.

"That's an… interesting new look for you," Loki said, examining her thoughtfully.

"Hello, detective," she said with a smirk as she shook his hand.

"Irene Dunn. I. Dunn. Idun. How very clever," Loki said dryly.

The woman threw her head back and laughed loudly, while everyone else looked on in confusion.

"Uhh… I take it you two know each other?" Inspector Niyama asked.

***

Comments and criticism are appreciated.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 "You've changed, Idun. I hardly recognized you at first."

Loki and Idun sat alone in his office, listening to the clock tick. Downstairs, he could hear the sounds of his friends loudly feasting. Almost immediately after Idun's arrival, Narugami had appeared to mooch food off Loki, having once again lost his part-time job. Yamino had then appeared with several more plates worth of food, which Mayura, Niyama, and Narugami had all fallen upon like starving wolves. Loki had been grateful for the distraction and had crept upstairs with Idun before anyone thought to ask any embarrassing questions.

She closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch. "It has been a while, Loki-sama."

"Has it been all that long, really?" he asked skeptically.

"You know time flows differently in Asgard," she murmured, opening her eyes and staring at him piercingly.

Loki decided to try a different tack, feeling unnerved by her strange appearance and behavior. "What exactly are you here for? It must be serious if Odin is willing to risk allowing you to come all this way to Midgard."  
  


"My current crop has been stolen, along with a sizable amount of Asgard's wealth in gold," she said coldly.

He stared at her for a moment before he regained his composure. "Gone? How? Brunnaker was one of the most heavily defended areas in all Asgard!"

Idun's gaze locked with his. "Fire giants. They came in the night, right over Bifrost, a hundred strong. We had posted guards there in Heimdall's place, but none of them had his steady gaze or his patience. They managed to surprise the guards and overran the bridge, and looted and plundered everywhere they went. Many were hurt, a handful died. Balder finally rallied our people and drove them out."

Loki took a moment to absorb all she'd said. "So you've been sent to recover them, then?"

"No. I came down of my own accord. Asgard is still a mess and they're trying to clean things up right now. But when everything is sorted out… I must recover what was stolen before it is too late, or all of our kind will come to Midgard looking for it. That would cause chaos beyond imagining and weaken our defenses at home even further."

He nodded slowly. "Why have they come to Midgard and not returned to Muspelheim directly?"

"I can only speculate on that. Perhaps something prevents them from directly returning. At any rate, they have been relatively easy for me to track. They are not used to human society and do not know how to hide. The police forces of the humans are extraordinarily well organized and it has been easy for me get them to do what I wish. Just a nudge here and a nudge there, and suddenly I'm the wealthy aristocrat Irene Dunn. They fell all over themselves to cooperate."

"I see now," Loki said. "They were in America first but since the human police were dogging them they tried to flee here. The police here can track them just as well. But the human police are no match for the giants, so you came here for me."

She stood up and gave him a mocking little bow. "Congratulations, detective. You've aided me once in the past, even if the circumstances were different, so I was hoping I could count on you again. I am willing to pay you handsomely. My fear is that they'll escape into one of the less developed countries in the human world. If that happens, it will be nearly impossible for me to use the human police forces to track them. If they escape from Japan and into another country, I probably won't be able to do anything to retrieve what was stolen," she admitted. "I don't think the giants realize that you're here, either. If they did, they'd never have come here, so we might be able to catch them by surprise."

Loki leaned back in his chair. "Well, I think that—"  
  
*THUMP-THUMP-THUMP WHAM!*

The door banged open as Narugami bounded up the stairs and burst into the room. "What the… it really IS you!" he shouted, pointing at Idun in amazement.

She adjusted her glasses and gave Narugami a hostile glare. "You just interrupted a private conversation."

"Sorry, but what are you doing here? Are you crazy? Do you have any idea—"

"Narukami-kun," Loki interrupted. "Calm down. She and I already discussed it."

Narugami would have said more, but Mayura walked into the office. "Oh, there you are, Narugami-kun. What did I say that made you go running off like that?"

"Err…" Narugami began eloquently.

Loki interrupted him. "Mayura, I'm sure you'll be happy to know we're going to take this case."

The girl clapped her hands together in delight. "We're going to be soooooo rich!" she declared, eyes sparkling.

"What is this 'we?'" wondered Loki. "I don't ever remember formally hiring you as an employee of the Enjaku Detective Agency."

"Loki-kuuuuuuuuuuun…"

***

Narugami was grumbling as the Norns' White Night Fortune Telling tent came into view. "Why does it have to be me who gets the Norns," he complained. "He could have just sent Four-Eyes or Daidouji or even the dog. But noooooo, he has to… to…"

His rant trailed off and his eyes became glassy as he approached the tent. The Norns, having accepted that they were to essentially be exiled to Midgard for an indeterminate amount of time, had set up a fortune-telling business in the local park. One of the reasons it was so successful was the sales pitch the goddesses of destiny had cooked up. It involved either Skuld or Verdandi—or both—standing outside the tent in various skimpy articles of clothing to attract visitors. Skuld and Verdandi were both very beautiful women, and Urd's fortunes almost always came true, so this sales pitch proved to be tremendously effective. The Norns were able to take in a decent amount of money and live quite comfortably. 

Today it was Verdandi's turn to wear the string bikini, complete with high heels and bunny ears.

Narugami's mind predictably shut down as the goddess of the present noticed him, waved hello enthusiastically, and began walking over to him. Several of the men waiting in line let out moans of obvious disappointment or began doing loud wolf-whistles as she embraced him tightly.

"Hello, Thor," she purred.

"Urk?" he asked, his eyes glassy and a trickle of blood dripping from his nose.

She giggled. "Is there anything I can do for you?"  
  


"Uhm. Loki needs to see you all. Very important."

She sighed. "Oh, that's all you're here for?"

Narugami opted not to say anything and forced himself to stare at her eyes rather than her very prominent assets.

"Well, I suppose we'd better take you in to see Urd," she finally said, looking faintly annoyed. "We could all use a break today, anyway."

With that, she turned and began walking into the tent, to the extremely vocal disappointment of the men waiting in line. Thor again forced himself not to gawk as she swayed, barely acknowledging Skuld's "hello" as he walked into the tent. Skuld watched them, and shook her head.

"Those two…" she murmured. "ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE, WE'RE CLOSED FOR THE DAY! COME BACK TOMORROW! HALF-OFF!"

***

As they passed through the large black hole torn in the canvas in the back of the tent, the Norns' clothing reverted from their skimpy costumes to their usual outfits. Verdandi excused herself and hurried into the kitchen. Thor was not really surprised to find himself in the Norns' apartment after going through the hole. What did surprise him was just how plush it was. He looked around with some surprise at the large kitchen, multiple rooms, and fancy, expensive-looking artwork decorating the walls. 

"Wow, this is really nice!" Narugami said, impressed. "How did you manage to afford all this?"

Urd smiled. "Thank you. Business has been very brisk and we've taken in quite a bit of money."

"You're really making enough money to live in a luxury penthouse?" he asked them skeptically.

"Well… we cheated a little," Skuld admitted, having the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.

Narugami rolled his eyes but did not comment further as he sat down on the large blue easy chair in front of the television. A moment later, Verdandi hurried out of the kitchen carrying a plate of chocolate cookies and a glass of juice. Narugami immediately began gobbling down the cookies as the sisters looked at him expectantly. He looked back, faintly confused.

"Well?" Urd asked.

"How are the cookies?" Verdandi asked at the same time.

Urd gave her sister a look. Verdandi blushed.

"What did Loki-sama send you here for?" Skuld asked impatiently, a faint note of hope in her voice.

"Oh, right," Narugami said through a mouthful of cookie. "Idun showed up on Loki's doorstep this morning."

He paused to take a swallow of his juice while they all gaped at him.

"Are you sure?" Verdandi finally asked.

"Pretty sure. She looks really different from before, though, so I didn't recognize her at first. Her hair's almost white now. She dresses in men's suits, wears glasses, and acts like an ice cube. But after a minute I realized it was her."

Urd was still having trouble believing it. "Idun hardly ever leaves Brunnaker. Coming here… what kind of disaster could have happened?"

"Well, I don't know all the details, really, because Daidouji was there, and Loki couldn't say much, but I think the apples got stolen."

There was another long silence as the sisters stared at each other in horror. It was finally broken when Narugami held the now-empty plate up to Verdandi.

"Got any more cookies?" he asked hopefully.

***

Loki was grateful that Narugami had returned when he did. To pass the time, Mayura had been pestering Idun and Inspector Niyama. She had gone on for all afternoon with a nonstop barrage of questions and stories of the past adventures of the Enjaku Detective Agency. Inspector Niyama had fled early on claiming that "duty called." Rather than growing impatient with Mayura's chatter, Idun had pretended to be interested and occasionally asked a question here or there to keep Mayura talking, and insisted that Mayura just call here "Idun." The more Loki's discomfiture grew at all this, the more amused Idun seemed to be. Just as Loki was considering various polite methods by which he could escape from his office, the door banged open and Narugami came in with the three Norns in tow.

"Hey, Loki, they're all here!" he declared, grinning.

  
The three women pushed past him and stared at Idun, taking in her radically altered appearance with amazement.

It was Skuld who broke the silence. "Idun-oneesan? Is… is that really you?"

Idun smiled, and it was the first time Loki had seen a genuine one from her all day. "Yes, Skuld, it's really me."

Idun was practically bowled over as Skuld leaped at her, giving her a huge hug. The greetings from the other sisters were more restrained, but even the normally cool Urd tossed away her usual reserve to embrace Idun warmly. Loki thought Verdandi might even start to cry.

Mayura watched these proceedings with some confusion. "Are they related to Idun, Loki-kun?"

"In a way," he said quietly. "They're very close, but they've been separated from each other for a very long time. It's good that they're all back together again."

Urd reluctantly broke away from Idun and her sisters and walked over to Loki, looking worried.

"Loki-sama, I appreciate that you've helped to reunite us, but I doubt Idun came all the way here just to say hello."

He nodded. "We need the three of you to do a divining. Something very precious has been stolen, and we need to find the thieves before they flee the country."

Urd's eyes widened. "So it's true," she whispered. "How did it happen?"

"I'll explain later. For now, I think we'd better get the divining done as soon as possible."

***

"So… you and Thor?" a grinning Idun asked Verdandi as Urd closed the door to Loki's basement.

She blushed. "Yes. I think he's starting to come around," she said shyly. "The subtle approach doesn't seem to work well on him so I've been trying to be more direct lately."

Skuld rolled her eyes. "He's such a big lunkhead. He's nowhere near as smooth and handsome as Loki-sama. What do you see in him anyway?"  
  
"He's one of the kindest and most gentle people I've ever met," Verdandi said softly.

Urd raised an eyebrow. "Are we talking about the same Thor here? The one whose idea of entertainment is crushing giants, and the one who is constantly obsessing over his part time jobs?"

"He's not really like that," Verdandi murmured. "He's always doing nice things for people, especially when no one is looking, and he fights his hardest when he's trying to protect his loved ones. He lost his job last time because the manager caught him giving free food to a little girl who didn't have any money."

She paused, and then added, "And it certainly doesn't hurt that he's incredibly brave and handsome either."

Urd sighed. "I've never seen you this smitten before. Just be careful, all right? You and Thor don't have the best of histories together, and I don't want you to be hurt."

  
"Thank you, Urd," said Verdandi, smiling sunnily.

The basement was unchanged from the last time Loki had been downstairs. It was the one area of the mansion where dust and grime had begun to collect, simply because neither Loki nor Yamino bothered to come downstairs anymore. The chandelier that had been used to contain the evil that Loki had been collecting still hung on the ceiling, but it was dark and silent with no flames of evil burning on it. On the floor in front of the chandelier was a large basin of water, and Yamino had chalked various magical runes hastily onto the floor in preparation for the ritual. The four women seated themselves on the floor in a rough semicircle around the basin.

"All right Idun-oneesan," Skuld began, her tone businesslike, gently removing Idun's glasses and settling them in her lap. "We're going to start now, since with everyone else waiting upstairs, we shouldn't have any distractions. I need you to close your eyes and concentrate as hard as you can on the apples, your casket, and any of the stolen treasures you may be familiar with. Things might seem a little strange, but bear with us, okay?"

Idun nodded and closed her eyes. The Norns began chanting in Old Norse, and the words had a peculiar feel to them that seemed to echo in Idun's mind. As their voices rose, the darkness in her mind faded to be replaced with light. Gradually, objects and people began to take shape from the light around Idun and quite suddenly she realized she was no longer in the basement but somewhere else. The motion of the people-shaped lights around her was jerky, and they seemed not to walk so much as they flowed smoothly across the floor. Idun found it very disorienting. The voices of the Norns were gradually drowned out by the sounds of people talking.

_That's good_, Skuld's voice echoed. _Now let's see if we can't find out where we are_.

As if on cue, she heard a man's voice over some sort of public address system saying, "The next train will be departing in 15 minutes."

_Well, that was easy_, Verdandi murmured. _We're in a subway station_.

_Idun, could you go to that kiosk where they're selling tickets?_ Urd asked.

Idun was happy to oblige them. In the area immediately around her, the light that made up the people was fading and being replaced with more definable shapes, but Idun was greatly disturbed by the fact that none of the "people" seemed to have definable faces. Shuddering, she started to push her way through the crowd, trying to ignore the way the parts of the people she touched seemed to melt away into nothingness. There was a group of people lined up in front of a small object that looked like a booth. Her guess was correct as the light melted away, revealing the ticket booth and a line of people patiently waiting for tickets on the next train.

_The schedules, Idun_, Verdandi said. _Where is this train going?_

Idun focused on the schedules posted on the wall of the booth, but could not make them out. The characters on the paper seemed to writhe in front of her eyes and quite suddenly she found herself developing a massive headache.

_I can't hold this for much longer_, Skuld whispered urgently.

In response, Urd and Verdandi's voices began chanting again and quite suddenly the letters straightened themselves out and slammed into sharp relief. Idun found herself hyperfocused on the train schedules, with the locations and times burned into her memory.

And then the vision shattered like glass, leaving Idun lying on the cold floor of the basement, momentarily stunned, her head aching as though there was a little man with a jackhammer pounding away on the inside of it.

***

Idun sighed as she sank into the chair in Loki's sitting room. Yamino handed her a cup of steaming hot tea, which she accepted gratefully. She closed her eyes and took a long drink. After a moment, she opened her eyes.

"The stolen goods are going to be on a subway heading to the outskirts of Tokyo that's leaving from the subway station in this town tomorrow at 7:00 p.m."

"Wow!" Mayura exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement. "It really worked! It's a true mystery!"

"Loki-sama, I think it would best for you to decide what to do about this yourself," Verdandi said, looking exhausted. "That really took a lot out of us, and frankly, I'd like to get home before I fall asleep."

Narugami stood up and stretched. "I'll walk you all home," he said absently. "It's getting late."

Verdandi immediately glommed onto his arm, eyes sparkling. "Really? That's so nice of you!" she gushed.

Narugami twitched and began marching resolutely toward the exit as Verdandi began suggesting that he might stay the night so he didn't have to walk all the way back to his apartment alone. Urd was laughing as she followed them.

"Don't be a stranger, Loki-sama!" Skuld called, before hurrying after her sisters.

Loki gave Mayura a stern look. "I think it's about time for you to be leaving, too."

"I wanna stay and hear what we're going to do tomorrow!" she complained.

"Absolutely not. Your father will kill me if you don't go home tonight. You're leaving, and that's final."

***

Later that night, Idun and Loki sat quietly in Loki's office. With the departure of the Norns, Idun had reassumed her cold demeanor. Yamino had left a few minutes ago to buy tickets for tomorrow evening's train ride. Loki had returned to his adult form, having gotten tired of maintaining the illusion that he was a child. Idun had not seemed startled at all.

"So, have you decided what we're going to do?" Idun asked.

"Yes, I think so. We'll board the train when it leaves and look around. Once we've secured the gold and the casket, we'll take care of any of the thieves that are on board. Once that's done with, you can take your things and leave. We'll ride the train to its destination and eliminate anything that might have been waiting for the stolen goods to arrive. I don't like the idea of fire giants being allowed to roam around free on Midgard. The humans have made great strides in the last few millennia, but they're not equipped to deal with something like this yet."  
  
"Will you be requiring the use of the police at all, Loki-sama?"

He considered. "No, I don't think so. They would probably just get in the way. Fighting giants on the train will be tricky enough with just the passengers around."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Loki leaned back in his chair and considered all he'd heard and learned during the day.

"You look like something is troubling you, Loki-sama," Idun observed.

"What's really going on in Asgard?" he asked after a moment. "The Norns didn't seem to know what was going on, and the rest of us came to Midgard around the same time."

She hesitated. "Do you really want to know?"  
  
"Yes."

"It's chaos, Loki-sama. I cannot ever remember a time when I have seen the All-Father so consumed with wrath and fury. His public appearances are fairly infrequent these days, and when he does make them, he speaks of nothing but killing you. He has also become increasingly fond of communicating through the image of his eye. There is much talk that he is descending into madness, and it became especially loud after he levied death sentences on the heads of Thor and Freya."

"He WHAT?"

"I could not believe it when I heard it either, but he pronounced both Freya and Thor traitors when they sided with you. He will not send assassins after them like he has against you, but if they return to Asgard, they will almost certainly be killed. There is a rumor that he's considering imposing the same sentence on the Norns. Some have even started saying that a replacement for him may be necessary. But, he is Odin, and he has ruled over us forever, and so we must obey regardless of any doubts we might have. Poor Balder has been killing himself trying to run day-to-day things in Odin's place."

"What can Odin be thinking? What has happened to him?" Loki wondered. "Letting Asgard be attacked by fire giants… putting a death sentence on the head of his own son… has he truly gone mad?"

Idun said nothing, and her face was expressionless as she watched Loki.

***

Yamino sighed, rubbing his arms as he waited in line to buy the tickets. The days were starting to grow colder now, and despite the fact that such things as the weather could not do him any physical harm, he had an instinctual aversion to the cold. He supposed it either came from a natural reptilian dislike of cold weather, or perhaps from all those seemingly endless years he had spent at the bottom of the sea, in the darkness and cold. He shuddered, and turned his thoughts to buying the tickets.

"Hey, buddy, hurry it up," the man behind him in line said, giving him a shove.

Yamino fought down his irritation and turned to the man to apologize, adjusting his glasses nervously. "Ah, I'm very sorry, sir."

He started when he thought she saw a tiny flicker of fire in the man's irises for a split second, but the man appeared not to notice Yamino's surprise. "Just get your damn tickets already," he grunted.

Yamino turned back to the counter, shaken, and proceeded to buy his tickets. After a moment's thought, he decided to buy a few extra since Loki hadn't specified whether anyone else besides he and Narugami would be riding on the train. He hurried away from the counter, eager to get home and out of the chill night air. As he was walking toward the exit, he noticed a shabbily dressed man standing near the stairs. As he passed the man, he looked up and grinned at Yamino. His eyes and mouth were both filled with fire. Yamino broke into a run and headed for home as quickly as he could.

***

After Idun had gone, Fenrir trotted out from behind Loki's desk and hopped into his lap. Loki scratched his head, and the dog gave a rumble of pleasure.

"What do you think, Fenrir?" he murmured after a time.

"Don't know, daddy. She smelled really strange. Her scent was sharp and jagged, like the ice in the north, or maybe some kinds of glass. She was also really scared, sad, and angry."

"She does seem to have had a rough time of it, after having her apples stolen."

"I don't know about that, Daddy," Fenrir barked. "She even smelled like that when the Norns showed up. It was really intense." The dog paused to let Loki pet him again, and then continued. "This is going to sound weird, but I could swear I got a whiff of evil from her, too. I had her pegged as the type that thrived off good feelings and sunlight."  
  
Loki was startled. "Evil? Idun? Are you sure? It should be an anathema to her. She's not like me at all."

"Yep, yep," Fenrir yelped. "It was evil, all right. Just a trace of it, though. It was pretty strange."  
  
"It is strange, but not enough to make me think she's lying to us in some way," Loki replied, lost in thought. "I'll just have to be careful when we go to the subway tomorrow."

  
"Are you sure you should go, daddy? I won't be able to help you down there, you know. My greater body isn't going to fit in one of those tiny tunnels."

Loki chuckled. "Don't worry, Fenrir. Narukami-kun and I should be able to handle a bunch of fire giants. We've got a good deal of experience in fighting giants already. What could possibly go wrong?"

***

Idun lay in her bed, sweat pouring down her face. She had been glad her conversation with Loki had ended when it had. The call, which had started out as a mild irritant in the late afternoon, had risen to a fever pitch as night had fallen. The urge to return to the small apartment she was renting in Tokyo was almost unbearable, and it had taken all of her willpower to maintain her cool composure in front of Loki. She was almost certain that he suspected nothing, especially since the Norns had failed to see the trap that awaited them all in the divining.

It was just as Odin had promised.

As she closed her eyes, her vision was suddenly filled by Odin's terrible, burning red eye. Blinding agony ripped through her skull as he made contact and his fire filled her mind, but she forced herself to ignore it. She was all too used it these days.

_DOES HE SUSPECT?_ Odin asked.

"No, my Lord, he does not," she whimpered. "All is going as we planned."

YOU ARE DOING WELL, IDUN. I AM CERTAIN YOUR HUSBAND WOULD BE PROUD.

Even though his eye was hardly capable of showing emotion, Idun knew that he was mocking her and enjoying it. "Bragi… Bragi will be released after Loki-sama has been dealt with?"  
  
_YES, YES_. Odin boomed, sounding irritated. _HIS TORMENT WILL BE ENDED, AND HE WILL BE STRIPPED OF HIS MEMORIES AND EXILED TO MIDGARD AS WE AGREED._

"Th… thank you, my Lord," she moaned, tears of pain streaming down her face.

DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME, IDUN. YOUR HUSBAND'S LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS.

With that, the terrible presence of the Lord of Asgard withdrew from her mind. It took Idun some time get her sobs under control.

When she did, she whispered, "Tomorrow, Loki-sama, you will die, and Bragi will finally be free."


End file.
